Is it possible to get my PTO back after this situation?

Trigger warnings: suicidal ideation.

First, I really hope I’m posting in the correct subreddit. But I have quite a long post coming up, and if anyone could help I would be grateful.

So I’ll start the story off by saying the irony of all of this is that I actually work in the health insurance industry, but I’m very new. In late February, I was very mentally unwell, and spent the majority of my time thinking about dying. One day I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, so I decided to try to check myself into a mental hospital.

It’s not my first time, but it was my first time voluntarily checking myself in. I went to an emergency room, arriving there around 1:30 pm. I know that beds in the psych ward don’t magically open up, but I waited in the emergency room for around 5 or so hours. In the middle of those 5 hours, I felt a deep sense of regret for even considering that I needed to be in the hospital. I told the doctor that I wanted to leave, and that I didn’t need to be there. He said he didn’t feel comfortable letting me leave, and if I did decide to try to leave, I would be held or watched for 72 hours (I don’t remember his exact wording unfortunately).

I do remember he mentioned the police, so in order to avoid them, I agreed to wait until I could be transported to the mental hospital.

My issue here is that due to being in the hospital for a few days, I ended up having to use 30 hours of PTO. I don’t believe this is justified, and I want the 30 hours back on my PTO. Would this situation warrant a claim to be made through my health insurance company? Or does it sound like something I have to address with my employer? I’m guessing it would have to do with short term disability, maybe?

I definitely don’t feel comfortable asking anyone on the claims team in my company because I work closely with them, and would rather not have my coworkers know about this whole thing. Any advice is greatly appreciated – I’ve never experienced something like this before and am new to the industry. Thanks in advance.

submitted by /u/daemachona
[comments]